“We are always here for you. We are your extended family across the world,” I wrote to our German friends as the second week of the Russian attack on Ukraine raged on. We had begun to wonder if we were watching the unfolding of World War III. I had met these folks almost forty years ago when we collaborated on German-American environmental education projects. Since then, we’ve continued our collaborative work across the world.
In a few days, it will be two months of war in Europe. Two months of waste: The waste of human lives, livelihoods and dreams; the waste of natural resources as Russians blow up homes, communities and the countryside; a waste of time as the clock ticks down on making meaningful change to mitigate climate change impacts worldwide.
While this isn’t the only war or conflict on our planet right now and hasn’t been the only one in my lifetime, I find it hitting closest to home because I once lived in Europe. I’ve learned from my international colleagues about how they struggled for basic freedoms under authoritarian rule. How they went underground just to be Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) because organizing was forbidden. How their families had been separated because of World War II—and this isn’t to mention all of the innocent lives lost.
The war machine not only causes loss of life (human life and lives of other living things), it also contributes significant greenhouse gas emissions and diverts precious resources (money, natural resources, and attention) from other purposes.
In contrast to war, young people in free countries protest week in and week out in common spaces and in front of their government buildings calling for government leaders to give them a chance at a future worth living for. Youthtopia is training and motivating young people across the world by building their skills for action on environmental and social issues. The student chapter of 350.org at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, staged a sit-in at the Board of Regents meeting on our campus last week because they wanted to urge the university system to divest from fossil fuels.
As youth dedicate Fridays for Future in some places across the globe, other places are blown to smithereens. What’s wrong with this picture?
On top of this, it is disheartening to hear some politicians in the United States say they don’t care what happens in Ukraine; they only care about their own district. As science and current events prove: Everything is related to everything else on this planet—environmentally, socially, economically, politically, and in every other way. When these politicians turn the other cheek, they turn their back on our young people because a better future depends on local, state, national, and global cooperation.
We are in it together on this planet whether you like your neighbors or not. We are in it together whether you believe in climate change or not. We are in it together whether you care about the future or not.
Our next generation is calling for help. They are also showing us the way. They are trying to improve their future by building their ranks and challenging those in power to hear their urgent messages.
Is it unreasonable that they want a chance at a life worth living? When are we going to acknowledge and honor that? When will we prioritize what really matters like a planet that can sustain life for our kids?
It is time to act. What can be more reasonable than giving our young people a better chance to survive and thrive? Yes, we are in it together: One planet. One future. But, it is their future we have a duty to protect.
Patty Dreier
Author, Empowered: One Planet at a Time, a book for change makers